Social-emotional competence may be a protective factor for academic achievement among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. This study used Fisher's r to Z transformations to test for group differences in the magnitude of relationships between social-emotional competence and achievement. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to determine the variance in academic achievement explained by student race, poverty, and social-emotional competence, and the schoolwide percentage of students by race. Data are from 335 students across 6 schools. This study suggests that promoting social-emotional competence among AI/AN students could be a strategy for reducing disparities in academic achievement and the consequences of these disparities.

This paper attempts to go deeper into the topic of social competency of physicians who provide primary care to populations living in poverty in Montreal. Adaptability as well as the ability to tailor practices according to patient expectations, needs and capabilities were found to be important in the development of the concept of social competency. The case of paternalism is used to demonstrate how a historically and socially contested medical approach is readapted by players in certain contexts in order to better meet patient expectations. This paper presents data collected in a qualitative study comprising 25 semi-supervised interviews with physicians recognized by their peers as having developed exemplary practices in Montreal's impoverished neighbourhoods.

Web-based surveys may have advantages related to the speed and cost of data collection as well as data quality. However, they may be biased by low and selective participation. We predicted that such biases would distort point-estimates such as average symptom level or prevalence but not patterns of associations with putative risk-factors.

A structured psychiatric interview was administered to parents in two successive surveys of child mental health. In 2003, parents were interviewed face-to-face, whereas in 2006 they completed the interview online. In both surveys, interviews were preceded by paper questionnaires covering child and family characteristics.

The rate of parents logging onto the web site was comparable to the response rate for face-to-face interviews, but the rate of full response (completing all sections of the interview) was much lower for web-based interviews. Full response was less frequent for non-traditional families, immigrant parents, and less educated parents. Participation bias affected point estimates of psychopathology but had little effect on associations with putative risk factors. The time and cost of full web-based interviews was only a quarter of that for face-to-face interviews.

Web-based surveys may be performed faster and at lower cost than more traditional approaches with personal interviews. Selective participation seems a particular threat to point estimates of psychopathology, while patterns of associations are more robust.

The devastating impact of substance abuse on American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) is reviewed with an emphasis on psychological and physical effects. Co-morbidity of substance abuse, trans-generational trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and depression among AI/ANs is also discussed since each condition may cause, impact, and/or exacerbate the others. The Medicine Wheel, one respected and accepted treatment approach developed by AI/AN communities, is described in detail since it helps address all of the co-morbid issues discussed.

We investigated barriers to healthful eating and vitamin/mineral supplement use among groups at risk for low nutrient intakes, particularly those with low income.

Twelve focus groups (73 participants) and 11 key informant interviews were conducted in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Focus group participants represented a diverse population. Key informants included health professionals and personnel from community-based organizations who worked in a low-income area. Focus group meetings and key informant interviews were audiotaped and transcribed; thematic coding was used to identify key concepts.

The focus groups and interviews revealed five themes on barriers to healthful eating and to the use of vitamin/mineral supplements: knowledge, income, accessibility, health, and preferences. Key informants were aware of the barriers, and were able to see not only individual and family reasons but also societal influences.

Our objective was to identify the benefits and barriers associated with participation in food programs. We did a content analysis of focus groups with parents (n=21), teachers (n=10), project staff (n=21), and children (n=17) in three low-income Ontario communities. The key benefits identified by the three adult groups were hunger alleviation and social contact opportunities for both parents and children. Parents also benefited from volunteering with and/or participating in food programs because neighbourhood support networks developed. Teachers reported that children who attended breakfast programs became more attentive in school. The food programs also provided an opportunity for nutrition education. Offering food as part of all community programs (not just those designed to increase food availability) encouraged participation and increased attendance. Children thought that attending food programs kept them healthy, and helped them work harder in school. Parents' pride was the main barrier to participation in programs; however, parents who were actively involved in program delivery did not feel stigmatized accepting food. To encourage participation, nutrition professionals should collaborate with local residents to develop and implement community-based food programs.

Evaluated a community-based, universal project designed to prevent emotional and behavioral problems and promote general development in young children, while also attempting to improve family and neighborhood characteristics, to link effectively with existing services, and to involve local residents in project development and implementation. The research involved 554 4-year-old children and their families living in 3 disadvantaged neighborhoods in Ontario, Canada. Longitudinal analyses of changes over the first 5 years of project operation indicated significant improvements in children's and parents' social-emotional functioning and physical health, parenting behaviors, and neighborhood and school characteristics. The findings from the Better Beginnings, Better Futures Project are encouraging and provide unique evidence for the extent to which a universal, comprehensive, community-based prevention strategy can promote the longer term development of young children, their families, and their neighborhoods.

Dental education on specific knowledge and intervention approaches for working with people living on welfare is crucial to the therapeutic success of the relationships dental professionals establish with this clientele. Despite growing attention to the importance of cultural competence and communication skills training in dentistry, very few initiatives have been documented in relation to serving low-income populations. Following discussions at a 2006 Montreal-based colloquium on access to dental care, academics, dental association administrators, and public health agency and antipoverty coalition representatives began collaborating to develop innovative pedagogy designed to increase providers' competence in interacting with their underprivileged patients. The group's first round of workshops (November 2006-October 2007) resulted in the creation of an original video-based tool containing testimonies from six individuals living currently or formerly on welfare. The videotaped interview data represent their perceptions and experiences regarding their oral health, dental care service provision, and poverty in general. This article describes the participative methods, the content of the resulting DVD, and the implications of the "Listening to Each Other" program, a collaborative knowledge translation approach for improving interaction between underprivileged people and dental care providers.

Early life events are studied as potential causes of cancer. The objective here was to study childhood adversities in the etiology of cancer.

The material comprised a population based random sample of 25 898 individuals among the Finnish working-aged population. In 1998 they were requested through six questions in a postal questionnaire to recall their childhood adversities. The cases consisted of people with cancer diagnosed 2000-2006 and registered in the Finnish Cancer Registry (n = 384). The rest of the sample consisted of cancer-free controls.

The most common adversities were prolonged financial difficulties, serious conflicts in the family and someone in the family having been seriously or chronically ill. The cancer patients reported more prolonged financial difficulties and someone seriously or chronically ill in the family. They reported less parental divorce than the controls. The associations were not statistically significant after adjusting for age, sex, education, and health behaviour. Nor was there a significant difference in the total number of childhood adversities between the study group and the controls.

On the whole, these cancer patients had not experienced more childhood adversities than the controls. According to our findings, there is no cause to attribute development of cancer in working age to childhood adversities. This information may also give relief to other family members.

Community-based AIDS service organizations (CBAOs) direct services to multiple-needs people living with HIV/AIDS who are less likely to use mainstream health promotion services. As people live longer with HIV, the potential to enhance quality of life increases, yet little is known about who uses CBAOs or how this use affects other health and social services. This study of people living with AIDS in Ontario, Canada (n = 297) examined the demographic and health-related characteristics of people with AIDS who do and do not use CBAOs and their patterns of mainstream service utilization. It found that users of CBAOs were significantly less healthy, less able to sustain normal activities, and more often depressed. They reported physical disabilities significantly more often. Their quality of life was also lower along certain dimensions. They were significantly poorer and more reliant on government income supports. They consumed significantly more nonhospital health and social services and had significantly higher out-of-pocket costs. These results suggest CBAOs are being accessed appropriately by those most vulnerable. In an effort to strengthen CBAO capacity to recognize and address depression and physical health problems prevalent among their clients, links to other mainstream health promotion and social services is recommended.